Springwatch photos on Flickr

Kingfisher about to dive for its lunch. Thanks again for any favourites and comments. I hope everyone had a good new year and has a pleasant weekend :)

Blue tit by eric niven

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At freezing Morton lochs this afternoon.

Mine's the biggest! by Sonia Johnson

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Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)

DSC_0415 Springwatch! by Jeff Lack Wildlife&Nature

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As seen/used on BBC Springwatch Unsprung Episode 12 2015.

Orange Tip - Antharis Cadamines

Red Squirrel by eric niven

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This wee guy was at Morton lochs this afternoon.

A jewel in the long grass by Pete Quinn

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Roosting Marsh Fritillary, Breney Common, Cornwall.

DSC7109 Little Tern.. by Jeff Lack Wildlife&Nature

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Little Tern - Sterna Albifrons

Norfolk

As seen on BBC Springwatch Ep 7 08/06/2022

This delightful chattering seabird is the UK's smallest tern. It is short-tailed and has a fast flight. Its bill is a distinctive yellow with a black tip. It is noisy at its breeding colony where courtship starts with an aerial display involving the male calling and carrying a fish to attract a mate, which chases him up high before he descends, gliding with wings in a 'V'.

Its vulnerable nesting sites and its decline in Europe make it an Amber List species. It is also listed as a Schedule 1 species in The Wildlife and Countryside Act.

This bird breeds on the coasts and inland waterways of temperate and tropical Europe and Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as South Africa and Australia.

There are three subspecies, the nominate albifrons occurring in Europe to North Africa and western Asia; guineae of western and central Africa; and sinensis of East Asia and the north and east coasts of Australia.[4]

The little tern breeds in colonies on gravel or shingle coasts and islands. It lays two to four eggs on the ground. Like all white terns, it is defensive of its nest and young and will attack intruders.

Like most other white terns, the little tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish, usually from saline environments. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.

At the beginning of the 19th century the little tern was a common bird of European shores, rivers and wetlands, but in the 20th century populations of coastal areas decreased because of habitat loss, pollution and human disturbance.

The loss of inland populations has been even more severe, since due to dams, river regulation and sediment extraction it has lost most of its former habitats. The Little Tern population has declined or become extinct in many European countries, and former breeding places on large rivers like the Danube, Elbe and Rhine ceased. Nowadays, only few river systems in Europe possess suitable habitats; the Loire/Allier in France, the Vistula/Odra in Poland, the Po/Ticino in Italy, the Daugava in Latvia, the Nemunas in Lithuania, the Sava in Croatia and the Drava in Hungary and Croatia. The status of the little tern on the rivers Tagus and lower Danube is uncertain.

Robin by eric niven

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This wee Robin was singing a lovely song at Morton lochs.

Red Admiral by eric niven

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In Dura Den this morning.

Are you watching me? by David Hall

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When I took this shot I was so excited. I have been taking shots of this pair for several years, but this was the closest I had managed to get.

Little did I know that the pair down the road, minutes later, would provide me with, not only better, but my best owl pics to date.

This female was out hunting without her other half and was for once fairly relaxed about me.

Mr Barnie from down the lane will feature soon. He's well worth the wait.